I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but I woke up in a jump, frightened I could feel my heart beating on my throat, only then I noticed that I was in a hospital room. There was nothing wronge with my body, there was no pain or discomfort. But before I could inspect myself more carefully, a doctor walked in the room. She walked towards me with a clipboard on hands, her dark hair was tied in a ponytail waving slowly behind her.
“Good to see you awake again” she said with a gentle smile.
“Thank you” I said sitting on the bed, “Can you tell me what happened exactly?”
“Well, you suffered a terrible accident while inside a game pod” She said while looking at her clipboard without a single hint of surprise.
“How long have I been unconscious?”
“That’s a good conclusion, but an incorrect one” she said while putting the clipboard down. “You only been unconscious for a few hours”
“Then…”
“Yes, your physical body have not recovered from the incident”
She didn’t sound grave or careful with her tone, as if she was just informing I needed to take a few shots and everything would be alright.I heard and repeated each word she said in my mind, but I still couldn’t understand properly all the implications.
“How come I don’t feel any feedback from my body?” I asked trying to be rational about this whole ordeal.
“You are currently completely disconnected from your physical body.” she said still very calm about this whole thing, and in a way it helped me to keep my nerves down. “As a matter of fact, you should not seek information about your physical body as it may cause your condition to deteriorate”
“Great, just great, now I will have to…” I started to say when I felt it suddenly down on me. I couldn’t remember anything about myself.
“To further protect you, we insulated you from any personal memory that might cause you distress or cause you to seek more information about your current condition.”
“Are you even a living person, doctor?” I asked feeling at a loss for words.
“I am not, and instead of focusing on the past or my person you should be more concerned about your future.”
“What future? I’m not even sure if I will ever wake up again.”
“I know it hurts to have a piece of you so brutally removed, but there is no need to feel down about your perspectives.” she said taking my hands into hers. It was hard to believe that she was just a piece of AI.”We are going to provide you with a chance to start a new life in a world of your preference.”
Stolen story; please report.
“So I get to live in a video game for god knows how long and you expect me to be happy at all?!”
I was surprised with my snap at her. On any other day I think I would even pay lots of money just to have a chance to experience something like this, but to have my life turned around like this, in such a sudden and irreversible way was...terrifying. But still, deep down I was looking forward to this experience, as much as I was terrified I was also eager.
“With that out of your system, I think we can properly discuss the subject of your new life” she said. “I believe that currently you wish to recover and retain your memories, besides that you want to be able to interact with people and the real world, last but not least you would like to compete with and or against said people in order to validate your experience, is all of that correct?”
I was dumbfounded for a moment or two after she finished listing all the preferences I wasn’t even aware I had. I only nodded in response.
“The best option for your new live would be to reincarnate as a tamed beast.” she said with a sly smile.
“Are you joking with me? How could that be my best option at all?”
“Well, your other options would be: giving up on some memories about your past and this experience in order to live as a common humanoid, being insulated from most real humans and living as a monster humanoid or losing your ability to write or speak and adapting to live as an beast.”
“How much insulation I would have to suffer in order to live as a monster humanoid?”
“Almost every player-aligned faction will be hostile to you, making you incapable of joining parties or even coming close to any human settlement. Besides the possibility of being under constant harrass of players.”
Shit. Giving up on my memories was out of question, but the other options were all horrible too. If I chose to live as a monster, even if I could beat the hell out of some players it would only make me a more desirable target, other than that I would be locked out from most content I knew. The only option left was to quietly suffer the humiliation of being a combat pet.
“Shit.” I said after thinking for a while. “What are my options?”
“You can choose any beast available at the starting zones, but my recommendation would be felines, canines or mount-types in order to maximize human interaction and compatibility”
“How exactly this new life will work?”
“At first you will be presented to an acclimation period in which you will receive some training and become familiar with your new body” ”After that you will be free to live as you wish”
“Other than that, the Hardcore mode will be and feel like your real life, while on Game mode you will have all related privileges and restrictions of an Unique NPC”
“What happens if I die in Hardcore mode”
“We are actually not sure as we don’t have enough data, but all reports indicate that it’s a very painful and traumatizing experience. Other than that, you will be given another chance once you finish recovery”
That was quite a good surprise, having a Unique Rating meant that I would have a common game character and that I would be able to activate Hardcore mode, where players would be almost unable to hurt me; or Instance mode, where only characters on hardcore mode would be able to interact with me.
“Ok then... I’m ready, I want to be a Wolf and start at the Greenfield Village”